ONLINE RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES

In addition to the local library collections, there are many websites which can aid you in filling in gaps in the life story of your house and its occupants. History of the Old North End Neighborhood by Dr. Robert Loevy http://oldnorthend.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/CompleteHistoryONEN.pdf Pikes Peak Regional Library District website – Regional history and genealogy http://ppld.org/regional-history-and-genealogy-home City directories from 1879 to 1922 have been digitized and can be viewed online by logging in to the library website and clicking on the Genealogy link followed by the City Directories link in the left navigation panel. The Pikes Peak Newsfinder link in the left panel contains a search box which may lead to results in the form of publication name and date. The actual documents must be viewed at the library or a copy may be requested from a resource librarian. The library website also has a digital photo collection which can be accessed from the left navigation panel. Images may be searched on various topics to include portraits and dwellings.

Penrose Library Special Collections has several computers which the public may use to perform genealogical or historical records research. Contact the library regarding this service and/or view some of the available resources by clicking on this Genealogy Websites link. Colorado College Century Chest In 1901, the citizens of Colorado Springs created a time capsule which contained much information about life of that era. The capsule was opened in 2001, and the contents are listed at the below link on the Colorado College website. The time capsule contained images, letters written by prominent local citizens about banking, retailing, government, etc. It is an exceptional overview of the city in 1901 with references to events occurring since the city’s incorporation in 1872. Below is an excerpt from the list of contents of the Chest. http://www.coloradocollege.edu/basics/welcome/history/centurychest/

Colorado Historic Newspaper Collection http://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org Search for articles on your subject in 147 Colorado newspapers dating from 1859 to 1923.

Denver Public Library Western History and Genealogy digital photos http://digital.denverlibrary.org/ The Denver Library has 600,000+ images of Colorado individuals, homes, places, events searchable by topic, timeframe. There are 120,000 or more images which have been digitized and can be found online.

State archives and historical societies http://www.colorado.gov/dpa/doit/archives/history/links.htm http://www.coloradohistory.org/chs_library/research_coll_files/rc_dig_np.htm Major metropolitan newspaper archives http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_online_newspaper_archives Numerous online sites contain similar references to the many newspaper archives that exist. Federal census records http://www.census.gov/ Some states and cities also have searchable census records. Search Engines Google and its Advanced Search feature – though not anticipated to be of significant benefit to this researcher, Google searches turned up a relevant court case pertaining to a $1,000,000 charitable trust established in 1929 by an Old North End homeowner plus references to a divorce not discovered in other sources. Google Books Depending on the occupation and business associates of the homeowner you are researching, you may find digitized pages or excerpts from titles such as The History of the State of Colorado, c1890, biographies of people in specialized fields, etc. Using your homeowner’s name may be sufficient though some additional search criteria in the Advanced Search tab may yield better results.

General types of sites to search: Cemetery indexes and obituary records (many require a fee) Digital image collections of newspapers, historical societies Major public libraries in other cities where your home’s occupant(s) may have resided Mining/mining town history sites Professional publication/association archives (e.g., banking, mining, law) State government public records sites – vital statistics, assessor’s office, archive departments Online genealogical sites http://www.ancestry.com/search/ Note: Ancestry.com may be accessed using the Penrose Library Special Collections Genealogy Department computers. Individuals may also pay an annual subscription fee to use the service on home computers.

An online genealogy site such as Ancestry.com can be a valuable tool as it is a good single source for many different types of information on persons of interest. In addition to searches for specificdata (i.e., birth, marriage, death records), the site provides for building a family tree online which may be useful if youanticipate researching the lives of siblings, parents, etc., of your subject. Searches on

Ancestry.com frequently generate hundreds of documents to be viewed to determine whether thinformation pertains to your subject. Providing additional accurate and detailed search terms may reduce the number of results, but be prepared to review many documents not applicable tyour search. Though time-consuming to sort through, the results of a broad search may gesome surprise entries regarding your subject that you would not have anticipated would be applicable, e.g., a schedule showing slave ownership by a member of your subjec

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t’s family. Some categories of the information available on ancestry.com: Census records - these can be very helpful in identifying siblings, parent history, residences, etc. Birth, death, marriage records – not available for all areas but worth the search City directories – indicating by year where a subject lived (Similar business directories exist.) Historical newspaper collections Military service records Slave records Passport applications New York ship departures passenger lists www.GenealogyBank.com – another online subscription service which includes much of the same data as Ancestry.com but was found to have more digitized newspaper articles of relevance to the author of this guide.